Infinite (25 page)

He looked grim, but determined. “Yes.”

I shouldered my backpack—awkwardly, thanks to the gloves—and pressed my palm against the white stone wall. It stuck.

Giving it a little tug, the adhesive held, and I reached with my other hand, higher. I tugged, and it didn’t come loose.

“It’s working?” Sam balanced with his elbow on the wall, peeling his feet off the ground slowly. With only his toes on the cobbles, he jumped with his hands splayed out, smacked the wall, and hung like that until he pulled up his legs and pushed upward.

“It’s working.” I did the same as he had. It’d be the only boost we got. The adhesive held if jerked on, but would peel off quite readily. That meant we had to crawl up the side of the Councilhouse, as there were no outside stairs, and no roof access points from inside the building.

So we crawled, reaching and pushing and stretching ourselves higher until we came to the rooftop. White spread out ahead of us, and over the far edge I could just see the gathered crowd, all trying to get a peek at the cage. Was the cloth off the phoenix yet? Was the poor creature still alive?

The sun moved below the wall, making the sky look brilliant blue.

Ten minutes until sunset.

I tore off my sticky gloves and pulled my boots from the slip-ons. “Where are the dragons?” They should have been here by now. Already we wouldn’t have the distractions that Stef and Sarit had put together, since they had to be remotely activated and said remotes were still in the mill. Whatever was left of the mill . . .

“Maybe Acid Breath lied,” Sam said. “Maybe they aren’t coming.”

Just then, a tremendous thunder burst through the sky. The crowd below was silenced. I held my breath and looked north.

From among the broken black obelisks, a hundred dragons took to the sky. Their wings shone brilliantly in the setting sun as they surged toward the temple.

Chaos erupted and screams sounded from below, but my heart lifted. The dragons had arrived.

Acid Breath landed, delivering the first canister of poison. He swung his head around to face Sam and me.

“Thanks.” Such a small word, considering my heart felt ready to burst. I hadn’t really believed that we could work with dragons, but we had. They’d come through.

Acid Breath roared and took off, his wings creating a wave of air that made me gasp for breath.

As the next dragon landed, I glanced at Sam. He was pale and sweating, and his knuckles were white where he gripped his laser pistol, but he was still functioning.

More of the dragon army dove toward the temple, delivering canisters of poison. Fifteen were here. Five to go.

Seven minutes until sunset.

I fumbled through my coat pocket for the key. I would create a door and open the canisters from the inside. Then—ideally—I would escape before the door shut and I was trapped as the dragons ripped the tower from the earth, as Acid Breath had said.

It was a simple plan. It had to work. But just as my fingers closed around the silver box, heat seared through my skin. I screamed and dropped the key. It skidded across the roof.

On the other side of the Councilhouse, Deborl stood with his laser pistol raised. How had he gotten up here?

I ran for the key, but lost sight of it when another dragon landed on the roof and delicately placed a canister of poison near the temple. Then it took off, the force of its wings on air making me stagger back. Sam grabbed for me, and we both tried to watch the place where we’d last seen the key as the long, gold body lifted and talons latched onto the temple.

The key had moved.

Deborl ran for it, and desperately, I wished I hadn’t asked Acid Breath not to hurt the rest of the population. Either all humans looked alike to dragons and they thought Deborl was Whit, or the dragon leader had taken my request seriously.

I reached for my pistol as another dragon landed with a canister.

“Wait!” I shouted at the dragon. “Kill that one!”

But the cacophony of fear below was too loud. People ran for their weapons. Someone would release the air drones soon. When the dragon took off again, I aimed my pistol at Deborl, but he had moved, abandoning the key.

He stood by the canisters.

He’d guessed what we were doing, why we’d gone to Menehem’s lab.

My SED beeped four minutes to Soul Night.

Sam and I both shifted our aims, but Deborl was already moving. He shot open two of the canisters. Aerosol spewed from the holes.

“No!” I screamed and ran toward him, like I could plug the holes with my hands, but another dragon landed and blocked my way. “It’s too early!”

Sam was running with me, toward the dragon, toward the hissing canisters. Tears blurred my vision as I bent and grabbed the fallen key. The dragon took off. Sam and I staggered backward.

When the roof was clear of the dragon’s tail, Sam surged ahead and shot Deborl. He had moved as soon as Sam’s weapon was lifted, though. Only his arm was hit.

I tried to catch up, but another dragon arrived and placed its canister on the roof. I screamed and tried to get its attention, but the dragon’s face turned up, and the ringing in my ears made me stagger.

When the dragon took off, I found Sam and Deborl wrestling on the other side of the roof. Their pistols had fallen away. They were hitting, kicking. I’d never seen Sam fight before, not like this. I couldn’t tell if he was winning or not. He did have a size advantage, but Deborl was fast.

I raised my pistol to shoot Deborl, but my hands were shaking and I didn’t trust my aim. I might hit Sam.

And the canisters were still spewing the poison.

Two minutes.

The final dragon landed and placed its canister next to the others, pausing only a second to nudge one of the open canisters. The dragon took off before I could attract its attention.

My ears rang with the din of dragon conversation above. They’d wrapped themselves around the temple, and globs of acid drooled down the sides.

One more glance at Sam and Deborl. They were still fighting, still grunting and trying to kill each other. I could help, as soon as I got this poison into the temple.

I pulled out the temple key and pressed the square. A door shimmered on the white wall, and I yanked it open, ready to shove the canisters inside, but singing stopped me.

-Ana!- All the sylph flowed across the roof, burning hotter. Beyond them, a dragon hung off the roof like a ladder, glaring at me.

“Help Sam!”

-No time.- Cris tangled around me. -Push the poison inside. We’ll heat the canisters. Hopefully the explosion will be enough.-

“Cris, no. Who knows what that could do to you?”

-Don’t argue. This is our redemption. We need to fight for it.-

One minute. I didn’t want to let the sylph be trapped in there with all that poison, but Cris was right: this was their fight, too. As quickly as I could, I began shoving twenty canisters of poison into the temple.

The doorway was all misty gray; I couldn’t see anything beyond, but the sylph threw themselves inside as I pushed the last canister in with a grunt.

Over my shoulder, I caught a glimpse of Sam wrestling Deborl to the ground. The younger boy stopped struggling, but his chest heaved with breath.

Sam looked back at me. “Are you all right?”

The door slammed shut as the last of the sylph vanished into the gray, and the shriek of dragon conversation made my head spin.

My SED beeped. Beyond the wall, the sun fell below the horizon.

Deborl’s outstretched hand closed around a laser pistol, and he brought it around.

“Look out!” There was no way Deborl could miss that shot.

Sam jerked away from the other boy just as darkness washed across the roof.

Soul Night was upon us.

And the temple was dark.

ABOVE, DRAGONS ROARED in triumph as they coiled muscles and spit acid onto the dull, white stone. The reek of acid poured through the air, making my nose burn and my lungs ache.

The temple was dark.

It was Soul Night.

We’d done it.

I ran for Sam, tracking the blue light of the laser pistol Deborl held. All I could hear was screaming and dragons and the incessant ringing in my ears. I was blind with darkness and deaf with noise, and my whole body ached with burns and fatigue and grief.

“Sam!”

Stone cracked above, and bits of rock pattered against the roof like hail, drowning out the sound of my voice. There were other voices below, too, thousands of people screaming.

Twilight bled across the world, the sky an eerie violet that deepened into night as I pushed myself toward Sam. He was nothing but an outline of blackness as I called his name. He was still standing, at least. And the blue targeting light came from below him, which meant Deborl hadn’t gotten to his feet yet.

The light swung around toward me, dazzlingly bright as it darted over my eyes.

I dropped to the ground and rolled away, the lump of my backpack hindering my movements. Scattered shards of temple bit into my knees and bare hands, but I huddled low to the roof and crawled toward Sam. I’d been a fool to give away my position.

Deborl, however, either didn’t realize how obvious he was, or didn’t care. The blue light moved through the darkness, bright enough to keep my eyes from adjusting, not bright enough to see by.

The roof shuddered as a chunk of stone fell from above. Pebbles sprayed like shards of glass, slicing open my exposed skin where they flew by. Roaring and the thunder of dragon wings muffled my cries of pain as I moved away from the place Deborl had almost shot me.

I could see Sam; he was silhouetted against the glow of spotlights, which shone on the market field and industrial quarter. Did he know he was so visible? I wanted to call out a warning, but the chaos of falling rock and screams would drown my voice.

I searched for the blurs and outlines of Deborl, and where his targeting light originated. He lay on the far side of the roof, just a smudge of dark against the glow of lights.

Slowly, I drew my pistol and covered the targeting light with my finger. I aimed at Deborl and took long, measured breaths to steady my hand. The clatter of rocks and voices and wing beats faded for a heartbeat.

I fired.

Deborl screamed and the world came rushing back. The shriek and roar and cracking of stone loomed overhead. Soon, the temple would come down on us.

I scrambled to my feet and ran for Sam. No time to check if the other dragon was still waiting on the edge of the roof. We’d find a way down.

Before I could cross half the roof, the world jerked and I tumbled over. Stones stabbed my palms and elbows as I rolled onto my back. Pain sliced through my shoulder blade and my spine. Chunks of rocks gouged at my skin, and fire flared in the back of my head.

Overhead, immense shapes flew from the tower and roared. Claws scraped. Stone screamed as it was torn apart.

Then light blazed, white and blinding above me.

I threw my hands over my eyes and rolled over, as though I could protect myself from the burn. Even huddled over, arms wrapped around myself, all I could see was white white white as tears poured from my light-seared eyes. It felt like they were bleeding, like color was fading out. My head throbbed with blinding light.

I was blind.

What if I was blind forever?

I howled against my knees, against the rocks and roof, but I couldn’t hear my own voice in the tumble of rocks and the roar of dragons and the shrieking of telepathy and the screams of people and the crash of the earth shaking itself apart.

Gradually, the white dulled into gray. I sat up and squinted through my fingers.

The light still blazed, but I could see grades of pale gray.

Rocks plummeted to the roof and to the market field below, but they were smaller chunks now, shaken from dragon talons or wings. The pebbles seemed to rain down silently, the sounds of their impact covered by the din of everything else.

Darkness in the south drew my attention.

A plume of brown smoke boiled into the air, as though something had exploded there.

No, not smoke.

Ash surged upward, chased by red and gold lava. The world shook and rippled again as a massive black wave heaved itself straight toward us.

“Ana!” Sam’s voice sounded dim and far away.

I pointed at the eruption on the south edge of Range. Purple Rose Cottage was obliterated by now. And Sam’s graveyard. The cabin where he’d become my first friend. The forest where I’d explored as a child. The clearing where I’d watched Soul Night celebrations fifteen years ago.

All gone.

Soon, we would be, too.

Footsteps rushed toward me, and Sam draped his arms around my shoulders.

Had we stopped Janan? The temple was so bright, it seemed unlikely. And though dragons flew from Heart as fast as they could, they wouldn’t outrun the eruption. There’d be another, soon. And another.

I didn’t want to talk to Sam about any of that, though. I faced him. Blood poured from a wound on his head, matting down his black hair to his skin. Scrapes and bruises marred his face, but he was still the handsomest man in the world to me.

“I love you,” I said.

“I love you.” He kissed me softly. Grit brushed between our lips.

The temple burst apart.

Shards of brilliantly lit stone flew in all directions, hitting my back and arms and face. Agony flared across my entire body as Sam shoved me down and held himself over me, as though he could protect me from what was happening.

Sam cried out, but neither of us could move. Rock piled up around us, shining with templelight. Dust rushed up, making me cough and gag, no matter how I pulled my shirt collar over my face to filter each gasp.

The rain of stone went on forever. It was a race: what would kill us faster? The eruption fire speeding its way here, or Janan’s ascension.

When the noise dulled, Sam sat up, and I followed. The explosion had been violent, but quick. Rocks lay strewn across the roof, and the city below looked as though it had been covered in fine white powder, which glowed.

And the prison—it was gone.

I glanced southward, checking on the wave of fire and ash and pyroclast. A gray-and-black cloud of debris and fire rushed upward and outward. We had minutes at best.

“Come on.” I scrambled to my feet and helped Sam up. His movements were stiff and pained, and we picked our way around glowing rubble, toward the crater on the east side of the Councilhouse. We were lucky the force of the temple’s explosion hadn’t destroyed the Councilhouse, too.

“You’re too late.” Deborl’s voice was scratchy and weak from the opposite end of the Councilhouse. He just wouldn’t die. “There’s no stopping Janan.”

I ignored him and held tighter to Sam’s hand as we gazed at the bright pit below. People huddled around it, their voices muted as they wiped blood off their faces, or swept shining grit off their clothes. Some hadn’t gotten up after the blast, but most had survived. They gaped at the place where the temple used to be.

“Oh, Ana.” Anguish filled Sam’s voice. “I’m so sorry.”

At first, I saw only light.

The white stones resolved themselves into stairs. Or tiers. And skeletons. Silver chains shone in the strange illumination, glimmering as a dark figure in the center shifted and stood.

He looked small from this far above, but I remembered seeing him before: short and thick, bushy brown hair on his head and face. He’d looked
strong
, then, even dead or asleep or whatever he was.

Now, power surged through his movements as he grasped the chain linking the skeletons to one another—to him—and strode out of the temple ruins, dragging the dead behind him.

Janan had returned.